KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Denny Hamlin expects the second half of the Chase for the Sprint Cup title run to begin like the first.

With a fuel-mileage race.

For Hamlin, such a prospect equates to nails on a chalkboard.

"You don't look forward to it as a driver," said Hamlin, who is third in the points standings entering Sunday's race. "The driver responsibility when you have races like this is taken down percentage-wise quite a bit.

"Obviously you have to do your job on the racetrack but don't mess up ... going out there and attacking and being able to make up positions. You're going to make up more positions with your strategy than you will ever having a fast race car and a good driver."

Some drivers expect Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 on the repaved Kansas Speedway to be a track-position race where crew-chief calls could determine the outcome.

For Hamlin, what he tells crew chief is Darian Grubb — whose calls are often feast or famine — is crucial.

"I need to give all the information I can on the racetrack to make sure Darian makes the right calls on the pit box," Hamlin said. "Because he's going to be biggest factor of where we finish this weekend."

If Hamlin's correct, the same will be true for points leader Brad Keselowski and his crew chief, Paul Wolfe. Likewise for second-place Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus.

Fuel mileage has played a key role in the finishes two of the first five races of the Chase (Dover International Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway) — three if you count the opener at Chicagoland Speedway, where Hamlin ran out of fuel on the final lap.

Clint Bowyer won at Charlotte, running out fuel as he did his burnout. Hamlin finished second but said he had several laps of gas in the tank.

Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch were running up front at Dover before being forced to stop for gas with under 10 laps to go.

Hamlin doesn't like fuel-mileage races in the Chase.

"It's not the way I want to see, but it's become part of our sport now with hard tires, fast racetracks and all this downforce that we have," said Hamlin, 15 points behind Keselowski. "That's the product that you've got right now, and there's not much we can do to change it."

Hamlin was 21st fastest in Friday's practice session a day after crashing in a test session Thursday at this track. Hamlin said he felt "slightly dizzy'' after that impact and was cleared after two visits to the infield care center.

Hamlin said he felt "100%" Friday and added, "It's just business as usual for the weekend."

The car Hamlin crashed Thursday was intended to be run this weekend — all three JGR Cup teams tested with the cars they intended to run Sunday instead of using a backup. The car Hamlin is driving was run at Chicagoland in the opening race of the Chase and was scheduled to be run in two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway.